Meghan Markle will be a breath of fresh air in a stuffy family, says ANN WIDDECOMBE

Ann Widdecombe

The former Tory Minister writes exclusively for the Daily Express

Meghan Markle will be a breath of fresh air in a stuffy family, says ANN WIDDECOMBE

I MAY have my doubts about Meghan Markle but on Saturday she cheered me up so much that I actually clapped. Earlier that week my doubts had grown when reports appeared in the press about how she and Harry were going to champion the rights of the LGBT community.

Meghan was the only one of the whining Windsors who looked like she was enjoying the entertainment

First, royals don't champion “rights”: they champion plights. That is what Diana did with victims of Aids and landmines and very effective she was too.

Rights are the business of politicians and pressure groups and never more so than when they are controversial.

Second, what a week for any royal to join in the argument when the Commonwealth conference was in full swing, the position of Prince Charles as its future head was in delicate negotiation and some of its bishops were voicing concern about their countries being pressurised by Theresa May on the issue of LGBT rights. So nought out of 10 for both phraseology and timing.

Then on Saturday I tuned in to the BBC to watch the Queen's birthday concert. There were many royals on display and every time the cameras panned to them they looked as miserable as the grave.

JOHN STILLWELL/AFP/Getty

The Royal family look less than enamoured of the concert put on by the BBC

The Queen often looks solemn in repose but they were all so po-faced that I genuinely began to fear for the Duke. Was he much worse than we had been led to believe after his operation? After all he is 96.

Then I realised I had not seen Kate. Was anything wrong with her or the imminent baby? Had they all come along out of duty rather than pleasure? Even Camilla, who is usually good for a grin, looked glum.

“Oh, come on, folks," I muttered at the screen. "A lot of people have gone to a lot of trouble to please you tonight."

Then the cameras rested briefly on Meghan and, unlike her fiancé, she was smiling and obviously enjoying the entertainment.

Good for you, m’dear, and please never lose that natural response.

Stacy Zarin Goldberg for The Washington Post via Getty

A fry-up followed by a salad for lunch is not very different to a yogurt followed by a burger

Breaking a fast won't break a diet

Yet another study claims that eating breakfast makes you lose weight. This one from the Mayo Clinic in the US contradicts one from Bath University which concluded that skipping breakfast made no difference.

As usual the studies are based on sample groups but this has always been a flawed approach because it assumes that all other things are equal including metabolic rate, the content of other meals, rate of exercise, etc. It is virtually impossible to assemble a group with identical diets and exercise patterns, sizes and shapes and then ensure that nothing varies throughout the period of trial.

Common sense says that breakfast alone determines nothing. It counts or does not count only in the context of wider eating habits and exercise patterns. A fry-up followed by a salad for lunch is not very different in the overall scheme of things from a yogurt followed by a burger for lunch.

A heavy meal at any stage of the day will have an influence but a light one will not and it does not matter whether that meal is breakfast, lunch or dinner. All that matters is calories consumed and calories burnt up.

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Out of town supermarkets have taken trade away from smaller food shops in town centres

It's not the internet that's ruining the high street – it's the lack of car parking

A gloomy prediction has department stores disappearing from high streets within the next few years. Gloomier still are the predictions about high streets themselves. Inevitably people blame the internet and Amazon. I don't. I blame the hopeless lack of parking in the average town.

I am lucky here. Newton Abbot is blessed with an independent department store called Austins with easy parking nearby. Why wouldn't I shop there? But if I had to fight for parking and go round in circles looking for a space then why wouldn't I shop from my armchair at home? Out of town supermarkets have taken trade away from smaller food shops in town centres and now one is fortunate to find any of the latter at all.

Already huge shopping centres with vast car parks such as Bluewater are taking over from department stores in towns and cities. Who knows? Perhaps we might even revert to seeing high streets lined with homes and gardens.

Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty

I wish I hadn't upgraded my iPad or iPhone

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, excuse my hollow laugh

My saga of the new iPhone and iPad continues. Why, oh why, when something works perfectly well must Apple change for change’s sake? Forwarding a text message on my old phone was simple. You touched an arrow. Now it comes in several stages: you press the text, then select "more", then select forward.

For the umpteenth time in a week I rang my technology adviser Danny, whose company is called, ahem, Effing Technology, which sure sums up my attitude towards phones and computers.

"Keep your thumb absolutely still," he said sternly. "It is easier than you realise to move it."

So if you are elderly, have Parkinsons or are otherwise shaky you will never be able to forward a text. So much for supposedly disability-friendly Apple.

I must hope my normal steadiness of thumb does not decline before the next version comes out!

Then there was the miserable business of moving music across from my old iPad to the new one. It was all there on my tablet and every item had been paid for so it should have been an easy business surely just to move it? Nope.

First of all a whole lot of rubbish by U2 appeared. Danny explained that it was complimentary, courtesy of the late Steve Jobs. My response was uncomplimentary. What would Mr Jobs have said if I had placed unsolicited hymn music on his device? Then fewer than half my songs appeared. Why? Oh, some of them had been purchased when my email address was different and must be downloaded separately.

Then the two lists could not be amalgamated and so it went on and on. My advice to anybody about to upgrade? Don't.

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A quarter of hospitals are refusing caesareans to women who do not have good medical reason for the surgeon's and anaesthetist's time to be used in this way.

My only question is why do the other three-quarters not follow their example?

Getty

Leon Brittain, right with his brother Samuel, was accused of being a paedophile

Who is the real victim in all this?

It is good news for a lot of wholly innocent men that the police are finally to drop their absurd and unjust policy of automatically believing anybody alleging sexual assault. At last political manipulation will be taken out of the justice system but it is a deep disgrace that it was ever there.

However the police will still be told that they should use the term "victim" instead of complainant. That is quite wrong as it presumes guilt before any investigation let alone charge or conviction. Neither victim nor perpetrator is an appropriate term before guilt has been proved and until the use of both is prohibited injustice will continue.

Meanwhile why is the infamous "Nick" - who falsely alleged not only serious sexual assault but murder too - still anonymous and why has he not been charged?

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In a brilliant move to arrest the decline in the hedgehog population, the little chaps are being released in the grounds of stately homes.

I just hope Longleat is not on the list. Badgers and motorists are bad enough but lions and heffalumps would not be a good exchange.